Slideshow: Biology Enters Fourth Dimension

Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory announced a new microscope that lets scientists peer deeper into living organisms using a new technology called Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy.

Courtesy of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory

The beating hearts of Medaka fish can be observed using the new technology. SPIM lets scientists view samples in a medium that mimics real conditions, rather than cutting up and destroying the sample to fix it to a slide as traditional microscopy requires.

Courtesy of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory

SPIM shines a very thin slice of light through a living sample and records the image picked up by a separate detector array. Micromotors, which can move the sample a half-micron at a time, systematically move the specimen through the light sheet to capture images from each layer.

Courtesy of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory

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